Am I an Anti-Mormon?
I would be considered by most members of the Church, an "Anti-Mormon." But by their definition of what the term means, I am not. Here is why. Whenever I ask a member what an anti mormon is, they say something like this,
"An anti Mormon is someone who hates Mormons or the Mormon church, attacks it out of anger, contention, or hate, and distorts the teachings of the church to make it sound bad. They lie, and will say anything to bring the church down. Most often, they are bitter ex members who could not keep the commandants, or were offended by someone in the church and left only to live in misery and jealousy. They either know the church is still true and are not good enough to live it, or they have been infected with an evil spirit telling them that the church is not true, when it is."
Ok, wow, that sounds pretty horrible doesn't it? There may be people out there like this, but I think they are few in numbers, and people like me just get slapped with the label anti mormon because we publicly say the LDS church is not Christ's church, but there is a big difference between me and an anti mormon.
Yes, I do not believe the Church to be true, and am against the false doctrines leading it's members down the wrong path. And yes, I do actively speak out, but my message is not one of hate or anger, it is one of love and concern, as I believe the LDS people do not have the true gospel of Christ. My desire is to share with them the truth about God, and His plan for us. I never distort the teachings of the church or twist the quotes of the prophets, but use direct LDS source material, and let the reader think for themselves on the meaning. I don't lie, I don't hate, I am not miserable or jealous in any way, I was never once offended by a Mormon in a way that would cause me to leave the church.
I don't attack people, but let them come to me. If I want to talk to someone and they don't, I respect that. I don't consider myself anti-mormon, but pro God and Pro Truth! I believe that the term Anti-Mormon and the definition Mormons believe it to have, was made up by the Church in attempt to scare members away from people like me, who are just trying to share what we know the true gospel of Christ to be! I do not call Mormons Anti-Christians, even though I don't believe them to be true Christians. I have no need to create an evil name or purpose for them.
I am not offended by the term, I only wish to clear up the misconception, so that you members will not be frightened away from my message. I was very happy in the Church, and never had a single bad experience with the Church or any of the members, and I am certainly not angry, offended, or secretly still think the Church is true, but am too proud to come back, or have given in to sin, and don't want to change or admit it. I am not miserable, and therefore attacking the Church for the sake of just being contentious!
I do not consider myself an anti-mormon if that is what it means. I am sorry if you see me this way, because it is not true. I am not hurt by any accusations because I belong to Christ, and as far as I'm concerned, beyond my personal relationship with Him, I care not. As far as you are concerned, I just want you to hear Christ's message. I try to say things in a way that will ensure the reader that I care for them, and consider them lost and in need of help, and that is my only reason for doing this. I have a life. A happy one. And I want to share my happiness.
If anyone thinks that I have nothing better to do than hate the Church or it's members, they should know that I attend a Christian church, I have friends, a wonderful husband, two beautiful children, and I like nothing more than to just spend time with them. As a mother, I have plenty to do, and yet I have chosen to spend almost every spare second of my time, trying to help you! I want desperately to reach my family, and all others that I can, and help them to see and understand the blessing of Christ's love that they are missing out on. I have as much love for the members of the Church that I know and don't know, as any person can have for another child of God. I pray for you, I think about you, I study for you, I write for you, I pay money that I barely have each month to have this web site, and support my ministry of Bibles, and other materials that I give out for free, and also to advertise and supply my Former Mormon support group that I organize that meets here in Southern Oregon monthly. I talk to you, I pray for you, I do everything I can, to reach you.
I am sad at the misunderstanding towards the Evangelical Christian community who is trying to witness to you about Christ. Your Church has probably the greatest missionary program in the world, and yet you put me down for trying to be a missionary to you. I also understand that because I haven't always been what I am, you think me worse. Meaning, if I had always been a Christian, and was trying to witness to you, you might at least listen, if only to try to convert me, but since I have been a Mormon, and have denounced the faith, you see me as a threat, and as a denier of the Holy Ghost; someone who "knew" and was still deceived. You may see me as someone who must have believed lies about the Church. I have been told that I must have an evil spirit come over me to have left the Church. However you want to describe it, you may feel like I am not a person to try to witness to because I know about the LDS Church, or because you do not want to be influenced by evil.
This is how I used to think, and I as a Mormon, I always heard that if you talk to or read something the church considers to be anti-mormon in your home or wherever, that you are actually inviting evil spirits into your home or mind, and that this is a sin, and because of it, you might be tempted, and fall away! This is a lie. first of all, if you are feeling evil spirits, there is no doubt in my mind that Satan is making you feel this way to scare you away from truth; it is not coming from me, and secondly, if you truly had the spirit of God, He would protect you from evil spirits, and certainly from believing them. If your Church is true, then it will not fall, and you will not fall away from God by listening to me. If you fall, you will be falling in the direction of truth!
2 Timothy 1:7-8
"For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God;"
This verse tells us that if we are in Him, we should not be afraid of anything. His word and truth will be sound in our minds. This is my God; if this is not the way your God works, you should question why you use the Bible. If you do not agree with the Bible, you should be very afraid. This is why...
Galatians 1:8
"But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed."
If your gospel or your God is different than the Bible, it is wrong. The Bible tells us to judge not by spirits, but by the word of God. You can't trust what you feel, but you can trust God. So don't listen to spirits, just read and listen, and then use your sound mind that God gave you to understand, and compare it with the Bible.
Hebrews 4 :12 "For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart."
1 John 4: 1 "Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world."
These together tell us that spirits need to be tried and tested, even if they feel good, or feel bad; this is not a way to judge, but the Bible is.
To sum things up, I do not hate Mormons, I do not enjoy picking the church apart, I do not do this for fun, or to make myself feel better, and I certainly do not try to anger people. I am not an anti-mormon in this sense. I would guess that true anti-mormons are people who do not want to witness of Christ to you, or anything else for that matter, but just know the church isn't true, and want to tear it down. I don't understand those who attack religions when they don't believe in God, or some who just don't believe in Hell. Why would they care if you did? I do this because I do believe in God, and Hell, and because I care about where you are going after you die. There is a big difference, and I hope you can see that.
I spent some time as a missionary in Taiwan. I learned a lot, one of the things I learned was (Translated by me) “In questioning Deity, any answer is significant.” – Taken from the Analects of Confucius.
I have questioned God. I have prayed. I have received answers. I have read the Book of Mormon, the D&C, the pearl of Great price and the Bible (at least 8 times) I have received an answer from praying about them all from the same source. I have received direction in my life that I would fear for my immortal soul if I were to deny it was from God.
I know too much to be swayed by one who would “Pick Apart my church” I have seen the propaganda, watched the films and been invited to meetings by people I thought were my friends where damnable lies were told about my church. Yet, my testimony is strong for I know that my redeemer lives. I know that He atoned for my sins in Gethsemane, and died upon the cross to bring me resurrection. I know that I am not worthy of his love, but humbly accept it anyway. I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day saints (Mormons) is the church he has ordained and given the authority to act in these the latter days. I know this because He who is mighty to save told me so. Nothing anyone else can or will say matters on the subject. I questioned Deity, and received an answer, and I dare not deny it, Yea I will proclaim it to any who will listen. I know that my redeemer lives ant that this is his church.
My God, My Redeemer would never have me reduce the faith of another soul even if it was misguided. How would you feel if your words destroyed the faith of even one soul, and they did not continue in the Good Fight? How would you feel if you were unwittingly a tool of Satan? Be very careful in your actions, for I don’t wish to see you in the anguish I believe you would be in if that were to happen.
That said, ColorCountry, I believe you to be an honorable, if misguided person, God speed and may you continue to learn of the savior until you regain your place in his church.
Amen.
CC, I skipped over this post of yours earlier in this thread [#101] mainly 'cause I was answerin' other posts & this was a bit longer [not long compared to mine :)] but I think this fits what you're referencing at this point of the thread.
Whenever someone can't possibly conclude that there's anything inherent to critique about their body of faith [not their personal faith, mind you, but the source & direction of it], then they have nothing else to pin the tail of the donkey on other than you. Why, it must be you that's the basis for why you say what you say.
Why it can't be us you're witnessing to! We're Zion. And it can't be our scriptures you'd have any reason to denounce; our latter witness & revelation & experience & reason trumps your dead creeds [I recall a similarly worded contemporary slam of creeds in one of FAIR's documents--all while they were trying to downplay Joseph's slam of Christian creeds--how ironic].
"So," they conclude. "It's you. It's your anger. It's your bitterness. It's your hate."
The problem is as you & other have often id'd: that what they reserve for themselves, a "missionary spirit" is not their terrain alone. Zealousness of public turf doesn't have "Property of LDS" tagged all over it.
They can't understand that the very wording in the article as the basis for this thead [see my post #52] itself is provocative--that the following are deemed as "original Christian thought" that we "abandoned":
That Christians have played up original sin (vs. the downplaying Nibley says we should do); that Scripture alone is a fallacy; that embryonic godhood is truly "divine"; that "election" means we are "candidates for godhood"; that we all need to embrace polytheism [Deities Anonymous Club??] etc.
Here we're accused of "abandoning" these things, says Nibley, and when we object that Christians have done no such thing, we're effectively told to stop being contentious!